Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Opinion
Opinion
February 25, 2016 01:00 AM

Honorees should be emulated

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    The newest Plastics News Processor of the Year, Evco Plastics Inc., represents some of the best qualities of American custom injection molders: A family-owned company committed to the plastics industry's demand for large and consistent capital spending on equipment, a constant search for new technologies and an understanding that people are the most important resource.

    How many family-owned molders have plants in the United States, Mexico and China? How many started a plant in China back in 1989? How many have both large-tonnage injection presses — up to 3,500 tons of clamping force — and do clean room molding of medical parts?

    Evco does all that and more. Read about it all in the profile of the company published online.

    You can make a profit in custom molding, but owners of successful processors know they have to plow money back into the company just to keep up with competitors, let alone become a clear industry leader. That's one big lesson from the Processor of Year Award, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

    Evco, based in DeForest, Wis., has grown from humble beginnings in 1964 when Don Evans, one of the pioneers who began in plastics in the post-World War II era, sold his initial company to his brother-in-law and struck out on his own by starting Evco Plastics in his basement. His son, Dale Evans, took over the business in 1981.

    Now Dale's daughters, Anna Bartz and Kate Bashir, play active roles at Evco — and they just had their first babies in January. That means Evco should be in the good hands of the Evans family for many years to come.

    Dale Evans is a low-key leader, but he's effective. Spencer Wright, plant manager of Evco's plant in Oshkosh, Wis., put it best: “He listens. He understands. He values what you say. He understands what you're saying. And deep down, we're all in this together. He's learning as we go, too.”

    That's another one of the hallmarks of the plastics industry. It's always changing. Nobody is going to be an expert on everything. Company ownership is learning right along with the machine operator on the shop floor.

    Evco, with about $145 million in North American sales in 2015, is the largest of the four finalists for Processor of the Year.

    The other finalists also are strong players, closely held with hands-on management, just like Evco. They are: Nicolet Plastics Inc. of Mountain, Wis., Dymotek Corp. of Ellington, Conn., and MTD Micro Molding of Charlton, Mass.

    The judges — who are Plastics News reporters and editors — picked the finalists from 11 companies that sent in their submissions. (Thirty-two processors got nominated.) The quality of the submissions was high again this year. Some fine companies did not make it to the finalists' circle.

    Candidates are evaluated on seven criteria, in a process that rewards companies that are well-rounded: financial performance, quality, customer relations, employee relations, environmental performance, industry/public service and technological innovation.

    Other finalists

    The three other finalists this year are, like Evco, good role models for the entire plastics industry. The diversity of this year's group finalists is impressive, and every processor can learn something from all four.

    Nicolet Plastics, led by Bob Macintosh, has forged its own strategy for a cross-trained workforce, developing a detailed program of skills training backed up by pay raises. Employees run the show in Mountain, a remote town in the middle of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, 200 miles north of Milwaukee.

    Nicolet employees absolutely have to be good. They schedule production, making changes throughout the day. In one part of the plant, every 15 minutes of production moves in containers down a conveyor, straight to the quality and packaging area.

    Macintosh and the other Nicolet Plastics managers are devotees of Quick Response Manufacturing — producing parts and assemblies for customers what they want fast, in smaller lots.

    For a small company, Nicolet has earned kudos and attention for its innovative approach to custom molding.

    Nicolet won this year's PN Excellence Award for customer relations.

    Dymotek specializes in two-shot molding and liquid silicone rubber, which it bonds to metal and thermoplastics. The company has seen sales more than double in the last three years, to $23 million in 2015.

    Dymotek is a company to watch, especially for its efforts to attract young people through an internship program that has netted two solid employees in the last few years. Dymotek won the PN Excellence Award for employee relations, and you can read about that in this issue as well.

    MTD Micro Molding is a fascinating company — a major player in the niche world of medical micromolding. Some of the parts are so small you need a microscope to view them. And amazingly, about three-quarters of MTD's parts are bio-absorbable, meaning they are absorb into your body after, say, non-invasive surgery.

    Not many other molders are going to go after that market, to be sure. But MTD offers an outstanding example of employee relations — getting its people excited about projects that can seem impossible to mold at first — and customer relations, as the company works with customers that make unique products that help improve human health, or even save lives.

    The third PN Excellence Award went to a non-finalist — Greystone Manufacturing, which makes pallets from 100 percent recycled plastic in Bettendorf, Iowa. It was awarded for industry and public service for its partnership with Goodwill Industries.

    Finally, Plastics News named GW Plastics Inc., of Bethel, Vt., as the winner of the Sustained Excellence Award, which goes to past Processors of the Year. GW Plastics has maintained its high level of excellence that netted it the top Processor of the Year Award back in 2009. GW injection molds parts for the medical, automotive, consumer products and industrial markets.

    Congratulations to all the finalists and winners — companies to respect, and emulate.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Recognizing Plastek Industries for all-around excellence
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Texas Injection Molding expands again
    2
    Germany's Stratec buys medical molder Natech to boost US presence
    3
    Plastics treaty urged to include EPR for flexible packaging ‘to make it work'
    4
    Phillips-Medisize closing Medford, Wis., plant, cutting 83 jobs
    5
    Resin Prices
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified